Annie's Annuals

Finally sifting through the last of my garden show finds. From the Annie's Annuals booth, we have:

Limnanthes douglasii 'Meadow Foam'--low-growing wildflower, dense, spreading mat, self-sows. I'm hoping it'll be a good chicken plant. Quick--what's low-growing, spreading (or borderline invasive), flowering, and likes Pacific Northwest climates? Whatever it is, I need it for the chicken yard.

'Morello Cherry' lupin. They say these actually live on the West Coast, where we all drool over you East Coast people and your swaths of Russell hybrids. Hmph. We'll see. I only bought one. At $7.95, I can't take the heartbreak of losing a dozen.

Madia elegans densiflora--big, yellow, happy daisy-like thing that self-sows. California native. What's not to like? Did I mention it gets to be 3 feet tall? Yeah, baby!

Coreopsis gigantea 'Giant Sea Dahlia'--oh, man, this plant is a trip. Your basic coreopsis except that flowers bloom on this thick, succulent trunk. Annie describes it as "straight out of Dr. Seuss" and she's right. Silly and weird.

More grasses. Always more grasses. I decided to plant two or three as an experiment and ended up planting two or three a week. Where will it end? I like Chionochloa rubra 'New Zealand Snow Grass." Big, peachy-gold, elegant.

What they did not have at the show but I am lusting after (damn that print catalog!): Cosmos 'Apricot' if you can believe it...








and nasturtium 'Margaret Long,' named after the woman who discovered it in her Irish garden 100 years ago. Margaret, I could kiss you! (Well, not now. But 100 years ago I would have.)